CRAWFORD COUNTY. Ind. (WDRB) -- An autopsy Tuesday should be able to tell if a body pulled from a southern Indiana cave is that of a spelunker reported missing in early October.
Emergency workers recovered the body of whom they believe to be Kevin Eve from the "Breathing Hole" cave in Harrison-Crawford State Forest about 6:20 p.m. Monday.
A group of college students exploring the cave found the remains Sunday afternoon, said Crawford Co. Sheriff Tim Wilkerson. They called police and soon, conservation officers and expert cavers were to spend the next 24 hours working inside the tight quarters of the cave.
Eve, 25, of Georgetown, Ind., was the subject of several weeks of searching in the area, after he was reported missing in October. Police found his car parked along the gravel road nearest the cave.
Once inside, rescue workers and volunteers needed to move the body across one-half mile of one tight cave passage and another 154 feet up a vertical passage.
"It's never easy to recover a person,
so in the process of trying to remove somebody it takes several people
or the condition of the remains may not be suitable for moving through a
narrow or twisted passage," said recovery worker Dean Wiseman.
"Once you start going down in these caves you get hit some places where you have to put your left arm in, wiggle, until you can put your right shoulder through, then move your arm out, so some of these are very tight spaces," said Ind. conservation officer Jeffrey Milner.
Emergency workers initially worried they might work a second night. But those underground began to work faster and faster.
"At some point I had an update that they were 75 feet from the surface, and probably within the next 20 minutes I was notified that he was brought to the surface," Milner said.
"No cause of death has been determined yet."
Items found in the cave pointed to Eve.
"Some evidence that was found close, in close proximity to the body was items that he purchased at a store that had surveillance cameras the day that we went missing," Milner said.
The Crawford County coroner will supervise an autopsy in Louisville Tuesday for positive identification.
Those students who found the body weren't supposed to be there. The state has closed the cave, in addition the hundreds of other caves in the area. It is trying to prevent the spreading of a disease that's dangerous to bats.
It was not clear Monday night if they could face any charges.
Eve, an Iraq war veteran was an avid spelunker. When he first disappeared, his mother called him "very fit" and said often explored caves. He had last been seen Oct. 1. His car and a few clothing items were found two days later off a gravel road in the Harrison Crawford State Forest.
Click here for an earlier story on the disappearance and search.
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